The scariest moment in this election season for me came during The Day’s debate for the Second Congressional District race, when some in the audience broke into interrupting jeers when the events of Jan. 6 were described as “outrageous.”

I took those jeering to be local Trumpists, Republicans who believe the election lies of former President Donald Trump.

How awful to think these enemies of democracy, in support of the attempted Jan. 6 coup, could be prominent enough in eastern Connecticut’s most important electoral race to even briefly interrupt a debate.

I find it alarming, in this most important election, as the Republican party offers safe harbor to white supremacists, insurrectionists and election deniers, while Democracy teeters, that eastern Connecticut could have a part, however unlikely, in flipping the House of Representatives to GOP control.

Republican Candidate Mike France represents to me the potential calamity of losing a Democratic-controlled Congress committed to continuing gains in improving heath care access, rebuilding infrastructure, creating new energy technology investments and jobs, taking weapons of war off American streets, assuring privacy, civil and voting rights and leveling the nation’s great income inequality.

Given that my greatest ambition this election is to help Democrats keep control of Congress and pursue that agenda, that would make a vote for Second District incumbent Joe Courtney a no brainer.

I’ve voted for Courtney in every election since his hair-splitting win in 2006, when I was among the 83 votes that put him over the top in the race against incumbent Republican Rob Simmons.

But I would like to vote instead this year for Kevin Blacker, the Green Party candidate whose rise to public prominence around here came from exposing what he calls the “dishonesty and bad judgment” in the quarter-billion-dollar State Pier boondoggle.

Blacker is smart, sincere, hard working and committed to doing the best he can for eastern Connecticut. He is a refreshing antidote to the cynicism of the two-party, money-centric status quo of politics.

My disillusionment with Courtney began during the pandemic, when he chose to support General Dynamics in its Covid-denial work schedule, keeping employees at work against their will to meet big corporate production bonuses while not providing adequate workplace safeguards for what was then a much more dangerous, uncontrolled virus.

It was an instance where constituents’ needs conflicted with corporate profit goals of the region’s largest employer, and Courtney was all in for the submarine-building entities that fill his campaign war chests.

I had to wince recently when Courtney chose to characterize Blacker’s activism against the State Pier wind turbine platform project as contrary to the Green Party’s desire for alternative energy sources.

How could the congressman be so blind to the issues of corruption around the pier project, and its two active federal criminal investigations?

Blacker has not protested the project because it would facilitate offshore wind. Indeed, he understands, as the congressman should, that there are plenty of other similar facilities being created on the East Coast that will provide what is needed for planned offshore wind farms.

The only point of the New London project, Blacker will tell you, is that it gives rich utilities Eversource and Orsted a leg up over their competitors and an enormous public subsidy in creating energy for guaranteed profits.

Most important, Courtney chooses to ignore the fact that it has improperly enriched insiders, funneled money to unlikely Democratic players like former U.S. Rep. Toby Moffett, and closed New London’s port to traditional shipping, sending the business to the politically-connected operators of the private port of New Haven.

Shame on Congressman Courtney for his role in it all.

It’s an excellent example of what is wrong with the one-party dominance of Connecticut government.

Unfortunately, I worry a vote for Blacker could, however unlikely, tip the scales in a three-way race toward the Republican. Lacking publicly available polling, we just don’t know the true dynamics of the race.

I don’t think I could live with myself if I knew I played any part, however minuscule, in sending another Republican to the House, jeopardizing Democrats’ control.

I’d like to vote for Blacker to support the Green Party, since enough votes for him will help the party keep its access to the ballot, one small hope for breaking two-party gridlock.

Voting is always a balancing of goals and interests. Most important, though, you should feel good about who you ultimately choose. I hope to.

It’s more important than ever now, in a perilous year for democracy.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com